


As Beautiful as the Ocean

by SnowyWolff



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Also slightly autistic Keith, Blood, Drowning, M/M, Magic, Violence, merman!keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2018-08-20 06:07:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8238728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowyWolff/pseuds/SnowyWolff
Summary: Keith likes to sun on the rocks in solitude. Noisy humans come and disturb his peace.Lance is a sailor aboard the HMS Voltron. A handsome merman catches his interest.





	1. Keith

The water was tranquil. No storms, no rolling waves, and no human ships. Just the soft noise of the water moving back and forth. The noise humans made really destroyed the peace of the ocean. It was as if they loved nothing more than to hear the sound of their own voice.

Keith did not share their sentiment. He preferred silence and solitude. Sure, it was lonely at times, but it was better than dealing with awkward social situations. Keith did not do too well in those. He never quite understood all the social cues and—seeing as merpeople had tons of nonverbal cues; often whole conversations could be held nonverbally—Keith was mostly shunned for his inability to understand.

Humans, however, seemed to have a severe lack of nonverbal communication. Whenever one of their impressive ships sailed by, Keith could hear shouts and bellows. At night often times there was singing or shouting disguised as singing. Maybe it was to keep the sirens at bay. Either way, it disturbed Keith’s peace constantly whenever he was sunning on the rocks.

The sun was bright as Keith surfaced. He took a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the light. Then, he swam towards the indent in one of the small islands and pulled himself onto one of the flat rocks conveniently lying in the middle. Curling in on himself, he sighed in content.

Yells and excited shouts woke him a while later. Blearily he lifted his head and rubbed his eyes. In the distance he saw a large ship. He squinted at it, annoyed that once again humans had disturbed a perfectly fine afternoon.

He was slightly confused by the amount of noise he was hearing. The ship was far away, but the voices were much too loud to be coming from all the way over there.

A shout nearby startled Keith nearly off his rock. Frantically he glanced around to find the source, not quite willing to relinquish his spot to the humans just yet.

“Hunk!” came a shout from somewhere up the cliff. Whomever was up there was just out of Keith’s line of sight.

“Hunk, buddy, c’mon,’ continued the voice. “One little dive. Just one.”

Keith didn’t quite hear the answer, but he could make out the words ‘death,’ ‘insane,’ and ‘nope.’

“Awh, don’t be such a scaredy-cat, bro,” huffed the other. “The water’ll catch you! It’ll embrace you!”

“Last time you said that I belly-flopped so hard I swear my intestines strangled my kidneys, dude. I couldn’t pee for a whole day!” yelled the other, presumably Hunk, finally within earshot.

Keith heard a snort, followed by an annoyed sigh.

“Why don’t you just jump by yourself, Lance?” a third voice chimed in. Keith would’ve called it chirping if it hadn’t sounded as faux-innocent as it had.

“It’s no fun alone,” whined Lance. “I know you won’t join for sure, Pidge, but Hunk can be convinced. Isn’t that right, buddy?”

“Nuh-uh! Not this time!”

Keith rolled his eyes as he was sure Lance whined even louder. He had heard quite enough. He scooted to the edge of the rock, dipping his fingers in the cool water. He slipped in just as he heard the loud “Fine!” coming from Lance.

Keith was momentarily confused by the sudden torrent of bubbles assaulting him, but when he dared to open his eyes again he met the most startlingly blue eyes he had ever seen. The ocean’s colour seemed to pale and become lifeless in comparison.

They floated motionlessly for what seemed like hours, just staring into each other’s eyes. However, reality hit hard when the human— _Lance_ —gasped for breath and started flailing. Keith quickly grabbed him around his waist and swam up. They broke the surface soon enough and Lance started coughing up the water from his lungs, gasping desperately for air. Keith held him until Lance could breathe normally again and didn’t clutch at him as if his life depended on it, which it might as well had.

“Shit,” said Lance. He was glancing around, distancing himself slightly from Keith before looking at him. His eyes seemed to reflect the entire ocean and Keith was momentarily lost. It took him a second to realise Lance was talking again.

“Um, thanks, I guess,” Lance said. “Normally I’m not so much of an idiot and stay under water until I’m out of air, but…” He trailed off, biting the inside of his cheek. “Oh, screw it,” he huffed. “I forgot about air, because you looked really beautiful.”

Keith wasn’t sure how to react to that. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and repeated the action a couple of times before giving up, simply sinking lower in the water until his burning cheeks were cooled by the ocean. Lance just laughed.

Man, if Lance thought Keith was pretty then Lance surely must have been gorgeous. His bright laughter definitely strengthened that belief.

A shout from up the cliff broke them out of their little bubble.

“Lance! Are you alive, buddy?” A pause, then: “He’s dead, Pidge! What do we do now?”

Lance shook his head, spraying droplets everywhere. Keith would have appreciated Lance tousled hair a bit more if he hadn’t been scowling up at the voices. Lance chuckled.

“Hey,” Lance said softly, touching Keith’s shoulder. Keith blinked his frown away and looked at him curiously. Lance smiled. “Before you leave… What’s your name?”

Keith was slightly bewildered. He hadn’t been planning on leaving. Had it seemed that way to Lance? Gosh, why was he so bad at this.

Lance was giving him a look filled with hope and expectation however, so Keith decided to just focus on the question for now.

“Keith.” It barely came out.

Lance grinned and echoed it softly. “Keith then. I’m Lance. I have to get back to them before they sail away without me. It was nice meeting you.”

Lance grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it. One more handsome smile and he turned around, swimming to shore. Normally Keith would’ve called a human swimming incredibly awkward, but somehow Lance made it seem like he belonged to the ocean as well.

Keith was slightly dumbfounded still. He watched Lance climb onto the rocky shore. He paused and observed the cliff for a moment before grabbing on and starting to climb.

“Don’t proclaim someone dead without trying to even search for him!” Lance yelled.

Keith ducked underwater. He didn’t feel like watching Lance leave.

He sank to the bottom, rubbing his face, He then ran his hands roughly through his hair, combing every tangle out in an effort to calm himself. After what seemed like ever and Keith no longer felt like he had a severe fever, he sighed and stared up to where the sun broke through the waves.

“It was nice meeting you too, Lance.”


	2. Lance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance can't get that darn merman out of his head. There is also trouble on the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, a heads-up for everyone. This chapter is from Lance's perspective and just like in the show, he's oblivious as heck. So, err, Pidge is a guy to him, thus male pronouns. Personally, I don't care what Pidge is: trans boy, genderfluid, nonbinary, I love every single version of Pidge, because Pidge is life. So yeah... If you're bothered by it then don't read???  
> Oh and there's gonna be violence and death in this chapter. Just so you know.

Lance sighed. Ever since they had left the archipelago, he had been doing that a lot. Pidge had even gone as far as to dryly observe he seemed like a fair maiden in love.

He had denied it then, claiming he had wanted to dive off the cliff another couple of times. However, the further away they sailed, the more he identified himself with those starry-eyed women.

Keith. That was his name. A beautiful name for an evenly beautiful man—Fish?—Merperson?

Lance had asked Pidge in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone about merpeople, but Pidge had told him that every known record of people with fishtails were of sightings near shipwrecks. Sirens, they were called. They lured sailors to their doom by singing about what they most desired. No man, or woman was safe.

However, if Keith had been such a thing, then why had he helped him instead? Besides, Keith had hardly looked dangerous. Just curious and beautiful and Lance had totally been digging the cute pointed ears the merman sported.

“You’re doing it again,” Pidge said as he walked by.

“Huh?” Lance blinked, brought back to reality. He watched Pidge roll his eyes. “Do what?”

“You know full well what I’m talking about.”

Of course Lance did, but he didn’t feel like admitting that to Pidge. The kid was observant enough as it was. He didn’t need extra motivation to start prodding as well.

Instead, Lance looked back at the horizon. He just had to get the picture out of his head. The long black hair, dark eyes blazing like a spring storm, a sleek body with a long red tail instead of legs, scales shimmering in the light—

“All hands to stations!”

Lance startled from his musings and twisted around to see Captain Shiro taking the helm. Shiro caught his eye and gave him a look, telling him to get a move on. Preferably, Lance would’ve taken the helm himself, but after a certain incident that _did not_ involve Lance almost entirely beaching the HMS Voltron, he had been confined to the crow’s nest, to Pidge’s chagrin. It had been his spot originally, but now the small devil had been relocated to the infirmary.

Lance managed to make his way up, still not comfortable with all the ropes he had to climb. How Pidge managed to look like a graceful monkey as he did it, was beyond Lance.

Finally in his cosy little bucket, Lance grabbed the brass telescope. After doing a quick scope of the horizons, he noted the ship in the distance. Captain Shiro must have seen it as well, seeing as it was incredibly hectic below on deck. The sails were fully raised and they sailed with the wind in their backs. Anything to get going quickly.

Lance kept his eyes on the faraway ship, especially on the flag. He hoped it was simply a merchant ship, but he had his doubts. These seas were notorious for pirate activity. He wished he’d gone below deck to ask Hunk about his gut feeling. The guy had a knack for knowing when something was amiss.

Seeing as the ship was still far away, Lance didn’t see any harm in daydreaming a little more. About a certain merman specifically.

Lance really hoped he could find Keith again. However, even if he miraculously did find him again, he had no clue as to what he would do. After all, Keith belonged to the sea. Lance belonged to the land.

A bellow startled Lance from his worrisome thoughts and had him quickly return to observing the other ship. He squinted, then remembered he had a brass telescope and quickly put that to use.

“Shit,” Lance cussed and readjusted the lens. There was no doubt however. A black flag was raised to the mast. Lance could make out the emblem, a skull embedded with a crown of daggers.

He sighed and put the telescope down. It was a smaller ship and sailing full sail as well. The HMS Voltron, while an absolute beauty, was large and slow. She had not chance of escaping the nimbler pirate ship.

He climbed out of his bucket and grabbed a rope. At least going down was a lot easier than going up.

Landing with a heavy _thunk_ , Lance ducked by the other sailors and headed up to the quarterdeck. Shiro had handed the stern back to the helmsman and was issuing orders from his current position. When Lance appeared on top of the stairs, Shiro zoomed in on him immediately.

“So?” he asked, short and direct as always.

“It’s a pirate ship,” Lance answered. “It’s sailing full sail and is catching on us quickly.”

Shiro took a deep breath and bit the inside of his cheek as he contemplated the consequences. He nodded after a moment and heaved a deep sigh.

“Seeing as you left your post, there really is no outsailing them, is there?” When Lance nodded, Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “That’s okay. You did your job. Now it’s time to move on to the next step.”

“Yes, sir.”

Shiro smiled before breezing past Lance. He leant against the balustrade and with one loud call, he gained every man’s attention.

“As you may have noticed yourselves, there are pirates on the horizon,” Shiro said. A nervous murmur rippled through the crowd, but was quickly shushed again when Shiro opened his mouth again.

“It’s gaining on us fast. We have no chance of escaping without a fight. Therefor, all stations prepare for battle!”

For a moment, no one moved. Then, everyone burst into a flurry of movement. Shouts and bellows filled the deck. Shiro watched his crew for a while before turning to the first mate, giving him the orders to oversee weapon and ammo distributions for every sailor before overseeing the loading of the canons.

Lance was doubting as to what to do. Going back in the crow’s nest seemed a bit of a coward’s action, so he waited and hoped Shiro would give him something to do.

“Lance,” Shiro called. Lance immediately stood to attention. “Can you go below deck and tell Pidge to report to me? After, you can grab whatever you need for battle from the armoury and climb in the sails. Others will join you. You’re on entering duty. Try to get to the canons below deck and sabotage as much as you can. Without firepower, they can’t take us out.”

Lance swallowed. That was a heavy burden to carry. If he didn’t manage to take out enough, and the HMS Voltron would sink…

Shiro observed him silently, before grabbing his shoulder again.

“Lance,” he said, softly. “Don’t worry too much. You’ll be great. Make me proud out there. Don’t get yourself killed.”

 “All right.” Lance nodded. His throat was a bit dryer than he had thought.

Shiro smiled and clapped his shoulder as a dismissal. He walked back to the balustrade to give out orders when needed.

Lance stood still for a moment. He had to shake himself out of his daze and wasted no more time in going below deck. He walked so quickly that when a hand on his shoulder stopped him, it nearly made him hit his head against the ceiling in surprise.

“Whoa! Sorry there, Lance,” Hunk said, immediately holding up his hands as a sign of peace as Lance whirled on him. “I was just wondering why it sounds like Rum Night up there. They never tell the cook a damn thing.”

“Oh, fuck.” Lance took his time to look deeply hurt and place a hand over his heart from the scare. Then, he coughed and scratched his head. “Uh, well, dude… There’s a, uh, pirate ship. On the horizon. Gaining fast and everything. Captain Shiro told all men to battle stations. I’m heading to fetch Pidge for him. A-after that I’m on the entering crew. From the sails.”

Hunk just stood still. Every kind of panic fluttered across his face before acceptance dawned and he nodded. With a determined flare in his eyes, Hunk slapped Lance on the back a little too hard and stalked off in the direction of the armoury.

“Good luck to you too, friend,” Lance called after him, receiving a thumbs-up in return.

Heading the opposite direction, Lance finally made it to the infirmary. They had been lucky thus far, with no ill sailors out of commission, but that would obviously change after today. Knocking on the door, but not waiting for an answer, Lance threw open the door.

“Yo, Pidge!” Lance said grandly. “Captain Shiro wants you to report to him.”

After a beat of silence, Pidge glanced up from the book he was hunched over and readjusted his glasses calmly. Frowning slightly, he asked, “Why?”

“Pirates.”

Pidge gave him a long look before sighing heavily. He slammed his book shut and left without a backwards glance. Leave it to Pidge to be annoyed with incoming doom, because it ruined his reading time.

Lance quickly left too, somehow always feeling like he was intruding on Pidge’s privacy whenever he was in his room. He took a quick detour by the armoury, getting some extra ammunition and gun powder for his pistol from the first mate. As he made his way back up, Hunk passed him by and pushed a sandwich in his hands.

“Can’t defeat those pirates on an empty stomach, eh?” he said as an explanation before dashing on to hand out even more to the other sailors.

Stuffing the entire thing in his mouth, Lance headed to the deck and started his climb into the sails. There he sat on the main sail’s beam, facing the pirate ship, its flag fluttering lazily in the cold breeze.

It didn’t take long for other sailors to join him. They didn’t say a word, all contemplating what was to come silently. Some were praying, others were simply staring ahead. Someone handed a flask to Lance. He took a sip, his throat burning from the strong rum. He passed it on to the next sailor, knowing it was a good luck wish, and perhaps a farewell as well.

When the sun touched the water, the pirate ship was finally within range and after a tense silence, Shiro yelled for fire. Canons blasted, wood splintered, men screamed. Lance waited patiently until the ship was within entering reach.

When he saw the first pirates swinging in, he didn’t hesitate. He jumped and didn’t look back. He heard men behind him yell battle cries, and Lance joined in. It was just him, the burn in his hands, the wind hissing by, the pirate headed straight towards him—

Lance fumbled for his pistol. It felt like it took hours. Unhinge it from his belt, release the safety, aim, pull the trigger, hope to God.

With a _thunk_ , Lance landed on the pirate ship. He quickly glanced around to gain his bearings, he heard screams and canons and metal, but he couldn’t be bothered to distinguish everything. There was just too much.

A roar from his left had him ducking out of the way. He unsheathed his sword and caught the other’s mid-swing. Not wasting a second, Lance kicked the pirate in the shin, pulled back his sword, and stabbed.

Not thinking about what just happened, he moved on. He had to get below deck. That was his mission. Get below deck and sabotage as many canons as possible. Don’t get killed.

He dodged swords left and right, occasionally swinging at a pirate when he could. He didn’t give himself a single moment to stop and think. If he did, he would start hesitating and it would cost him his life.

Lance wasn’t quite sure how he had managed to, but he somehow found himself underneath the stairs, hidden behind some crates. He took his time in reloading his pistol and cursing his stupidity for not grabbing a second one. It was a pain to continually reload for a single shot, but that was all he had.

He took a deep breath and rolled out. Immediately, he took down another pirate and headed on. More of his crewmates stormed down the stairs, yelling obscenities at the pirates which they gladly returned.

It was all becoming a bit of a blur at that point. The lower deck was utter chaos. Canons were firing, metal was clashing, people were fighting, yelling, screaming, bleeding, dying. After what felt like forever, Lance was told to get lost and to get back to the main deck. The sails of the pirate ship were on fire and the HMS Voltron could finally start her escape. Lance should get going while he still could.

Lance was mostly unscathed too, which he didn’t quite understand, but didn’t complain about. He was just very, very tired. He just wanted to curl up in his hammock and sleep this horrible experience away. Maybe dream a little bit more about Keith.

He had barely set a step in the direction of the HMS Voltron when an icy voice had him frozen in his tracks.

“Well, well, well. What do have here?”

Lance turned around, swallowing heavily.

A large man, dressed to the nine with possibly the fanciest pirate hat he had ever seen, walked slowly in Lance’s direction. He stepped over bodies like they were a minor bump in the road and, looking at the blood dripping from the large rapier he was holding, he had probably done a lot of work himself. Lance could just feel the maliciousness ooze from the man.

“Are you lost, little lamb?” the man asked.

“Me? I’m right where I want to be,” Lance said with more bravado than he really felt. By the cold laugh the pirate barked out, he didn’t think so either.

“Do you have any idea who I am?”

“Someone with impeccable style?” Lance tried. “How about Captain Fancy Hat?”

The pirate smiled darkly, showing off his rotten teeth. Faster than Lance had anticipated, the man came for him. Lance just barely managed to dodge. Unsheathing his own sword, he caught the pirate’s. With a loud clang, they broke apart. However, Captain Fancy Hat wasted no time in initiating the second attack.

This time, Lance wasn’t fast enough. He barely managed to bat the sword away from his heart, but the pirate still managed to pierce through leather and cut deeply in Lance’s side.

Lance screamed and tried to step far, far away from the pirate, but the man didn’t even give him a chance.

Seemingly without effort, Fancy Hat picked him up by the throat and dragged him away from the HMS Voltron and to the side of the pirate ship. There, he dangled Lance over the ledge.

“Any last words, maggot?” spoke the pirate coldly, releasing his hold on Lance’s throat just slightly so the other could speak.

“You never did tell me your name,” Lance said. “Don’t tell me I was spot on?”

Lance was becoming slightly light-headed by that point, which was probably why he was saying such stupid things.

This pirate observed him calmly before grinning. He leant just a little bit closer to Lance, just enough for Lance to spot Shiro fighting the remaining pirates on the HMS Voltron. They were all set to leave, and with this man’s attention on Lance, they could.

Meeting Shiro’s eyes, Lance tried to convey that much. Shiro yelled something, however, trying to cut his way through the pirates now blocking any entrance to their ship. Lance swallowed. If he could just…

“Tell Davy Jones that Captain Sendak sent you,” said the pirate.

That’s when everything seemed to go in slow-motion. Just before Sendak let go of him, Lance managed to free his pistol from his belt. Releasing the safety, Lance placed the gun against Sendak’s stomach and closed his eyes.

“Come tell him yourself,” Lance said calmly, and pulled the trigger.

The water was ice cold when Lance hit it. He was pushed further down by Sendak following him in, but he couldn’t care less at this point. Shiro could leave. Everyone that had survived this far, could continue to live. That was all he cared about.

He gasped for air, but only water filled his lungs. If only he was like Keith. He could swim away freely. This water could be his home, not his deathbed.

Maybe it was a little bit wrong to be thinking about a merman in your final moments alive and not about your family, but at that point Lance hardly cared.

He could just picture him. Long black hair, piercing grey eyes, a red tail shimmering in the light.

He could pretend the hands on his face were Keith’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah. You guys wanted a continuation, right? Do you still want it? Hmm? HMmmmmm?  
> Yeah, uh, so I figured out a plot? Sort of?? So enjoy the cliffhanger!  
> I won't make any promises as to when I'll update again, because inspiration is really weird for me. Hopefully it's somewhere in November, but again no promises.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and if you did, maybe leave me a comment and tell me what you liked??? They really give me a boost in writing! I also appreciate any feedback!


	3. Keith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is on his way to find Lance, but is grimly reminded of the darkness of the ocean as well as that of human nature.

In his twenty years of living, Keith had never been this confused about emotions, especially not his own. Sure, he had been plenty confused about others’, but his own had always been pretty straightforward. Up until this point anyway.

After meeting Lance, Keith had spent the remainder of the day on the bottom of the ocean, trying to make sense of the  emotions he had been feeling. Happiness and excitement were obvious. Meeting humans was interesting after all, even loud ones, especially because their kinds kept apart normally.

No, the strangest feeling was the queasiness. Keith wasn’t even sure whether it was an emotion or, by now, a state of being. It was as if an anemone was tickling the inside of his stomach, but it seemed to be in a good way. He knew it was linked to Lance, because whenever he thought of his blue eyes, the queasiness intensified.

Now he was swimming across the ocean and trying to track the ship that carried Lance. Not his best, well-thought-out plan by a long shot, but it was what his gut was telling him to do and Keith trusted his instincts. Mostly.

It hadn’t been too difficult to find the ship. Sharks often followed human ships for any morsels the humans tended to drop into the water. Keith simply had to communicate with the sharks and they would happily send him in the right direction in return for a good scratch near the gills.

The hard part was figuring out what to do when he finally did catch up. Would he call for Lance and risk other humans to see him and perhaps try to catch him? Probably not.

Keith remembered the stories the elders used to tell about how humans would often catch merpeople, sell them for high prices, put them into small glass encasements and just stare at them all day. Just the thought of being separated from the ocean caused a shiver to ripple down Keith’s spine.

Maybe the humans would stop at another island and Lance would dive off a cliff again. Keith could actually talk to him maybe. That would be the best case scenario. Keith was betting on that scenario.

It wasn’t long until he found the first signs of something being horribly wrong.

Debris stuck from the disturbed sands. Heavy balls made of metal lay innocently in between. Fish hesitantly made their way through the battlefield, picking at the wood in hopes of finding something edible.

Keith dived down and moved in between the debris. Glancing around, he found nothing particularly eye-catching and decided to find out what exactly the  balls were.

He touched the cool metal with careful fingertips, but finding them all still attached after a few ticks, he picked it up. Turning it over in his hands, he still found nothing. What could they possibly be used for?

Muffled singing had him dropping the ball and ducking behind wreckage in an instant. Peeking over the edge, he saw the black oily smoke that indicated the sirens. And where sirens were, you could bet your pearls there were drowning humans or corpses nearby, and not just one or two.

A sickening feeling started gnawing at Keith. Lance’s ship had gone by here. Obviously, something had gone terribly wrong. The sirens swimming in the distant indicated pretty much the worst case scenario.

Keith sank to the sand and rubbed his eyes. He had to focus. He had to figure out his options.

One. Lance was safe on his ship, which wasn’t going to sink yet, and Keith was worrying for nothing. Best case scenario, obviously.

Two. Lance was safe on his ship, but it was sinking, and when a ship was already sinking, sirens would sing their songs and make it sink even faster. Thus, Lance was no longer safe, but at least alive and if Keith could get to the ship, there was a chance he could save Lance from being eaten.

Three. Lance was in the water right now, drowning and pretty much doomed unless Keith could get him to the surface soon.

Four. Lance was already dead.

Keith moved. Sirens wouldn’t hurt him, that was a pact between them and merpeople. However, they would try to get him to join them, and with human flesh around, there was a chance they would coerce him to somehow eat some and turn.

He stayed close to the sand, keeping away from the oily smoke as much as possible. He only realised his mistake after reaching a point of no return. The sirens would go down to the bottom to feed, meaning he would soon be caught in the fog no matter what. He would have to trust his instincts to get him either to Lance or out then.

Taking a deep breath, Keith pushed on. He would try to go up later. That was his best bet on getting out. For now, as sick as it made him feel, he was going to stick to the bottom to see if Lance was already down there.

The darkness of the fog soon enfolded him and he could hear the delighted chirps of the sirens. He could also smell blood and decay, but he somehow managed to tune those out. He had a mission.

“Dear, dear, what are you doing here?” Came a sickly sweet voice from somewhere to his right.

Keith almost lashed out, his hand already on the knife he always carried. He managed to catch himself just in time. He didn’t need to give the sirens a reason to hurt him. There wasn’t a reason to attack anyone.

“Just passing through,” he managed to say. He doubted it sounded very civil. He never was any good at playing polite.

The siren echoed him, her voice seamlessly turning his words in a tune, and appeared in front of him, curiosity in her black eyes. Her oily hair swished around her, seemingly blending in with the smoke.

“You could have gone around,” she then said. “So why would you?”

She didn’t really give him time to answer as she swam up close to him, her tail curling around his to keep him in place. She leant in close and whispered, “Don’t tell me you would like to join?” Then, she pushed back with a chuckle and disappeared back into the fog. “Pick to your liking; there is plenty to go around.”

Keith swallowed. He supposed it would allow him to take Lance away without them being fussy. Or so he hoped.

He continued his way across the bottom, occasionally swerving out of the way when a bunch of sirens were… feeding. He was starting to feel more optimistic about Lance’s chances of survival with every peek he got of the corpses.

He had started swimming up to have a break from the darkness and was keenly aware of someone following him. Not that it mattered for now.

The light was almost blinding as he broke free of the fog. Rubbing his eyes, he took a deep breath and enjoyed the beauty of the ocean for a bit. It didn’t last long as a large shadow passed over and the water vibrated with what Keith could only assume to be the sounds of a battle.

Glancing up, he noticed the two ships floating close to one another. Flashes and smoke came from the ships with the occasional bits of wood and metal going down in the water. He flinched when someone fell into the water and was quickly swallowed by the fog. The gleeful singing of the sirens would be the last thing that man would hear. Keith looked away.

But now what? Keith recognised Lance’s ship, but it wasn’t looking too great. It didn’t look like it was sinking, though. That was good.

He swam closer to the bottom of the ship and touched the barnacle-ridden wood. If only he could somehow communicate with Lance. Oh, well. All he could do now was wait out the battle and wonder why humans would willingly attack their own kind.

Greasy fingers touching his tail had him hit his head against the ship. He pulled his tail free and almost curled in on himself as the siren from before swam up, a plume of smoke trailing behind her. She was watching him curiously.

“The food’s down there,” she sang.

“I’m good,” Keith answered. He folded his arms over his chest and curled up a little more, a barnacle or two digging into his back.

She glanced up at the sun glaring down on the water and decided not to come any closer for now. Her eyes settled on the ships then and, after glancing between them and Keith, an eery smile broke out on her face.

“Fancy yourself a human, hmm?” she purred. “Afraid he’s going down with the ship?”

Keith watched her warily. She was simpering, trailing her fingers through her hair. She swam a little closer again, but not even the shadow of the boat would shade her from the burning sun, and thus she stopped just before the fog would let go of her completely.

“What does he look like? I can tell you whether he’s down already or not,” she said and tried to reach out to him once again. Keith was kind of impressed with how tightly he had managed to curl in on himself to keep her greasy fingers away from him.

“It’s none of your business,” he snapped, glancing around for a way out.

A blast from the ship had Keith hit his head again as the ship dipped down and more wood fell down into the water. Keith watched with mild panic as three bodies fell into the water, but before he could do as much as turn his body, the fog surged up and the men had vanished within.

He hissed when the siren finally had a firm grip on his tail after his distraction and gently tugged him down. She smiled coyly as she grabbed onto his arms. Keith didn’t even try to break free. He was no match for a siren.

Leaning closely, she whispered, “We can change him, you know. Like we change merpeople, we can change humans too. You can be _together_.”

Keith lurched and she let him go, giggling. She sank back into the fog, which was definitely getting closer to the surface.

He watched her disappear and then focused back on the ship.

There was no feasible way of protecting it and it was near impossible to seem to get to falling sailors before they would be swallowed by the fog. So what could he possible do if Lance fell in?

He took a deep breath and headed to the side of the ship that faced the open ocean. Not really caring anymore at this point, he stuck his head out above the water and glanced up at the ship. It wasn’t looking good. The sheets fastened to the poles reaching for the sky were mostly torn and blazing like the sun itself. From what Keith could see, this side seemed largely intact and thus he ducked back under and headed over to the other side. It was a completely different story over there.

Keith simply peeked above the water, staying underwater from his nose down and noticed the large holes in the side with smoke lazily trailing out. Bits of wood and metal occasionally snapped off and dropped into the water. The sheets and poles looked even worse from his new vantage point, one having snapped at the middle and was barely hanging on with the ropes it was attached to all other places of the ship.

Not that the other ship looked any better, though. It had just as many holes and destroyed wood and metal as Lance’s ship. The only thing different was that pretty much all the sheets were ablaze and one pole finally gave way and toppled over with a mighty crash.

Acrid smoke and black dust blew across the water and had Keith couching harshly and ducking back underwater. Gulping in water to clear out the stuff from his gills, Keith had to take a moment before he peeked back above the water.

Shouts and yells and blasts that made Keith’s ears ring, which seemed to correlate with one ship falling a little bit more apart afterwards. The noise was slightly overwhelming at first, but after ducking down a little bit again and partially submerging his ears back in the water, it was doable.

He startled when a human tumbled off the side of the other ship, colouring the water red where they fell in. Swallowing, Keith ducked back underwater and headed for the human that was somehow still kicking their legs hard to stay afloat even though their injury seemed severe. Keith wondered whether he should help.

“That your sugar?”

He twisted around to see the siren once again advancing on him. The fog followed her easily, seeming even closer.

Keith moved to block her path.

“He’s not, is he?” She said. “Are you sure he even still lives?”

“Lance lives,” Keith snapped, refusing to even allow that thought to take hold.

“Lance,” echoed the siren. She stretched out the ‘l’ when she did.

Keith narrowed his eyes. He was keenly aware of this siren’s interest in him. Not that hard to miss really when she kept following him around. The reason why she was so interested confused him thoroughly, though.

“What do you want?” He asked.

The siren chuckled. She tried to dodge past Keith to get to the human, who was by now exhausting their energy, but still trying to reach Lance’s ship. Keith hissed and blocked her path again. She stopped smiling then.

Keith swam back slowly, giving her a hard glare as he grabbed the human by their second skin. He almost got kicked as the human started struggling, but seeing as they were rather small Keith had no trouble staying out of reach. However, it was difficult to keep the human above water and tugging them to safety while they were very much trying to get away.

After getting about two strokes further, Keith glanced down to find the siren had once again disappeared within the fog. He wondered briefly for how long, but dismissed it quickly. This human was first priority right now.

Finally having enough of the waste of energy the human was exerting, Keith popped above water and looked them straight into the eyes. They stopped moving immediately, their face going pale and their eyes going wide.

“Look,” Keith said. “I’m just getting you to your ship before you get eaten, so just… stop moving for a tick.”

He didn’t wait for an answer as he dove under again and grabbed the human around the waist, careful to not touch the wound. He pauses for a second to figure out what exactly he was doing, but decided that pushing was probably the best right now. The human stayed still thankfully.

They reached the ship within moment and Keith lifted the human up so they could grab onto it. He waited for them to climb up, but they were staring down at the water. Keith hesitantly raised his head above the water.

The human was watching him, awkwardly twisted around to be able to look away from the ship. Keith took a moment to observe them.  Their second skin was clinging to their first, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Their short hair was also sticking to their face, but their brown eyes were keen and bright. They looked too young to be in deadly fights.

“You saved me,” they said.

Keith nodded.

“I’m Pidge,” they said then, slowly. Keith immediately recognised the name as being one that belonged to one of Lance’s companions rom that day.  “You said I’d be eaten.”

Keith nodded again. Pidge watched him, then glanced up at their ship, then managed a glance at the other ship, then glanced thoughtfully at the open ocean, and then finally settled back on Keith.

“Why’d you save me?”

“Because you were still trying to live,” Keith said. “A-and a siren was literally trying to get by me to get to you.”

“I see,” Pidge said. They were quiet for a while and Keith was about to go back underwater when they spoke up again.

“You,” they paused, but then pushed on. “You don’t happen to know a guy named Lance, do you?”

Keith immediately perked up and reached out a hand to steady himself against the ship, staring wide-eyed at Pidge.

“You know him? Is he here? Is he safe? Please tell me he’s not dead.” Keith was fumbling over his words, but a chuckle from Pidge had him clamp his mouth firmly shut.

“Man, I guess that’s one mystery solved,” Pidge mumbled. They then glanced back at Keith, who was sinking back under in embarrassment. “Wait! Don’t leave!”

“I won’t,” Keith said quickly, emerging once again. “Not until I know.”

“Well, he is here. I can say that much,” Pidge said. “Though, I can’t say in what state. I mean, Shiro, our captain, had him enter and last I saw of him was up in the sails. I wasn’t really allowed to leave our ship, but I couldn’t just sit still and do nothing. Shiro does worry too much and—”

Keith listened silently as Pidge rambled on about this Shiro’s overprotectiveness.

“Um—”

“So anyway,” Pidge continued easily, “you know Lance. When and how did that happen?”

Keith wasn’t quite sure now was the time to be chatting about things like that.

“Shouldn’t you rest?” Keith asked instead, looking worriedly at the wound in Pidge’s side.

Pidge huffed, but winced when they did so. Shifting their weight slightly, they gave Keith one last long look.

“Lance is probably still on the other ship. He doesn’t give up easily. Hang around and I’ll make sure he’ll be in a boat on the water when we’ve gotten rid of these pirates,” they said and started climbing.

“Thank you,” Keith said.

“It’s the least I can do,” Pidge said. “See you.”

A desperate shout had Pidge nearly losing their grip on the ship and stopped Keith from diving under just yet.

“Shiro,” Pidge breathed and started climbing as fast as they could. Keith saw them scramble on board through one of the holes.

Keith glanced towards the other ship and saw a tall man fighting off a bunch of other humans all on his own. He was being pushed back, but he was fighting desperately. It was another despairing shout that had Keith moving.

“Lance! Don’t—Move out of my way! Lance!”

Keith dove down and saw the fog swelling, having grown even larger. It moved towards two figures floating down, trails of blood coming from both. Moving closer, Keith’s breath hitched.

_Lance_.

He didn’t think beyond that. He moved.

The siren was leaving the fog, her hands reaching, eyes gleaming, voice lilting.

Keith swam into her and slapped her towards the ocean floor with his tail. She screeched, all pretence gone, and furiously swam back towards her prey. Keith didn’t care in that moment. All he saw was Lance.

Beautiful, gorgeous Lance.

Placing his hands on Lance’s face, Keith leant in close for a moment to take it all in again. Then he placed his ear against Lance’s chest and listened for a heartbeat. Finding it just barely holding on, and finally hearing the screams of the siren quickly advancing on them, Keith moved.

He pressed his lips against Lance’s shortly, just to give him enough air to survive a short trip to the nearest island. He then swam around to Lance’s back, encircling his waist with one hand and holding Lance against his chest with the other, and hauled him away.

Building up speed, Keith was quickly out of reach from the fog, but didn’t slow. He didn’t slow the entire way, not even when he reached the island and essentially beached himself in his haste to get Lance to land.

He moved off of Lance, but panicked when Lance still did not start breathing on his own. He placed a hand on Lance’s chest, still feeling the faint beat of his heart, and then moved it up to his cheek.

“Lance,” he whispered. “Lance, please breath.”

He moved closer, his face mere millimetres away from Lance.

“Please.”

A pause. Then, Lance nearly hit his head against Keith’s as he coughed and sputtered to get the water from his lungs. Luckily, Keith’s reflexes had saved Lance from another injury and, as Lance tried to twist onto his side, Keith decided to have a look at the wound in his side.

After the coughing had subsided and Keith had decided that Lance’s wound needed immediate care, Lance once again tried to move. Keith pressed a hand against his chest to have him lay down. Lance huffed, then groaned, then went perfectly still.

Blue eyes met grey, and the world seemed to stop once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Err... So... Remember when I said maybe November, but don't count on it? Yeah... what day to remember.
> 
> Anyway, here is chapter 3, which essentially doubles the word count for this story so far! I'm really sorry for the long wait!
> 
> I was rewatching Voltron the other day and it gave me the boost I needed to get back into this story, so here we are. I hope to now kind of stay in the mood, so this story can find its end, but with how my life is right now... Well, let's just hope for the best!
> 
> Anyway, thank you to everyone who's left comments and kudos so far! They always warm my heart!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you did, please do leave me a comment. Feedback is appreciated!


	4. Pidge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the HMS Voltron is less than pretty. Pidge makes some interesting discoveries.

Meeting the merman had definitely been the highlight of the day for Pidge.

After climbing back up and inside the ship, they had immediately run for the stairs and above deck. Ducking past the pirates that were quickly being outnumbered after Shiro’s initial call to fall back and get out. Now, as Pidge hauled themselves into the ropes and to higher ground, they noticed that Shiro was pretty much the only one still on there.

“Shiro!” They called, but then they saw what had Shiro fighting in such a frenzy.

Lance was being held up by the largest pirate Pidge had ever seen. Having his hand firmly clasped around Lance’s neck, the pirate was walking over to the edge of the ship. A pause, words seemed to be exchanged, Shiro became even more frantic, and then the icy blast of a pistol. The pirate fell forward, him and Lance hitting the water with a large splash.

Pidge watched wide-eyed as the water coloured red where they had vanished.

They wanted to hope so badly that Lance would just swim up, but they had caught a glimpse of the blood soaking Lance’s clothes and knew that someone would have to dive him up.

“The merman,” Pidge whispered and then climbed down as quickly as they could without breaking their legs as they jumped down from higher than normally. They caught Hunk panicking and grabbed his shirt before he could do something as stupid as jump overboard.

“Hunk!” Pidge yelled.

“Let go!” He said, staring at her with wide, scared eyes. “Lance is—Lance is—!”

“You can’t go in! You’ll get eaten!”

“Eaten? What do you mean?”

“I can’t explain right now,” Pidge said. “But please, I might know a different way to get Lance back.”

Hunk searched their face and nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “Okay. I trust you.”

“It’s no guarantee.”

“But no one will get eaten?”

“If all goes well.”

“All right. Okay. That’s fine.” Hunk nodded again.

Pidge glanced past Hunk for a second, and saw Shiro still fighting on the pirate ship.

“You get Shiro,” they said. “We have to get the ship away from here. The pirates have lost already, we don’t need to lose Shiro.”

Hunk glanced past his shoulder, watched Shiro get closer and closer to the edge and how every swing of his sword became a little slower, and nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll get him. Good luck on your end,” he said, smiling and patting Pidge’s head.

“Yes, yes. Same to you,” Pidge said, slapping his hand away and ducking over to the stairs leading below deck.

Crew members were already cleaning up messes and moving bodies around. Pidge was begged to go to the infirmary to help with the wounded, and while they promised to be there soon, they had to do something else first.

Reaching one of the smaller holes in their ships side, Pidge hesitated only a moment in tying a rope against a pole still standing and climbing down. Touching a boot against the water, they whispered, “Merman?”

Waiting a few seconds, Pidge climbed down a little more and touched their fingers against the water’s surface, dangling precariously.

“God, why didn’t you tell me your name,” Pidge muttered. “Please, if you can hear me, Lance needs help.”

Waiting a few more seconds, Pidge sighed and climbed back up. As they entered the ship again, they quickly walked to the infirmary.

There were a lot of men waiting to be inspected. They had already organised themselves with the men hurt most lying in the handful of beds and the others scattered around, leaning against the walls or beds.

“Okay,” Pidge said, catching the attention of the men who had been taking care of them so far. “Give me the scoop and let’s get to work.”

*

Pidge didn’t return above deck even after they were done tending to the wounded sailors. Most of them would heal completely, but they feared for the life of three. They had too many internal wounds and Pidge did not have the right equipment on the ship to perform any surgeries. All they could do was ease the pain as much as possible and make their passing peaceful.

After wiping the blood from their fingers, Pidge sighed and set their glasses down on the little desk in their quarters. It was one of the merits of being the ship’s doctor; they got their own, albeit tiny, room.

They knew Lance hadn’t been returned to the ship. They knew that Hunk would want answers from them as well, but they weren’t sure how to explain. Or well, how to explain it without sounding like a complete lunatic.

“Yes, Hunk,” Pidge said. “I hoped this merman guy would be able to save Lance, because, you see, I talked to him earlier and he was talking about people being eaten like the stories say and that he was looking for Lance too and somehow I trusted him to not eat Lance. Not that it matters now anyway since he didn’t answer my call and Lance has probably been eaten by now.”

“Wait, what?”

Pidge nearly toppled over, managing to grab hold of their desk just in time and slamming their chair back on four legs. Jumping up and turning around, they stood sheepishly as Hunk peeked around the door..

“I, uh, I wanted to knock, but…” Hunk said and shrugged.

“It’s okay,” Pidge said automatically.

“So,” Hunk started, opening the door further and somehow squeezing himself into the tiny room. “What’s this about merpeople and Lance being eaten?”

Pidge sighed and dropped back down on the chair. They rubbed their eyes and sagged down.

“It’s exactly as you heard,” Pidge groaned. “Lance is—he’s dead and it’s probably my fault, because I told you not to dive and—”

“Pidge.” Hunk placed a hand on their shoulder. “It’s not your fault. You made a sound decision. At least in the sense of me getting Shiro. If we had lost the captain, then all morale would have been lost.”

“So Lance is just another casualty,” Pidge said bitterly.

Hunk said nothing, but Pidge saw their words had stung. Grabbing his hand and giving it a good squeeze, Pidge apologised for their harsh words.

Hunk shook his head and sighed and sat down on Pidge’s bed.

“Just… We just have to look forward. At least for now. A-and I have to figure out how to tell Lance’s family this. They asked me to keep him safe and now…”

“I’m really sorry, Hunk.”

They sat in silence for a long while. Hunk had brought sandwiches with him since Pidge had missed a very silent dinner. Both quietly nibbled on the food, thinking over the day’s events.

“Shiro does want a report of the injured, by the way,” Hunk said. “That’s why I came to get you.”

“Oh.” A pause. “Did you tell him?”

“He only knows I came to get him. Doesn’t know about your involvement.”

“All right.”

Pidge got up and smoothed out their tunic. Taking a deep breath, they pointed to the cupboard in the corner.

“There is a bottle of spirits in there. We could… drink in memorial for Lance?” Pidge said.

Hunk smiled sadly. “Yes. Let’s drink and retell stories of Lance’s greatness.”

“You say greatness; I say stupidity.”

Hunk shrugged and leant back against the wall. “Lance was a lot.”

Pidge nodded and slipped out the door. Heading up to the upper deck, they ducked past men trying to repair the ship for a much as possible. They were still at least three days away from hitting port and with one of the sails mostly out of commission it would take even longer.

Allowing the breeze to calm their nerves for a moment, Pidge quickly hopped up the stairs to the quarterdeck where Shiro was talking with some sailors. Moving closer, Pidge overheard the shushed whispers about putting stress on the ripped sail in an attempt to reach port sooner.

They stopped talking when Shiro looked up and noticed Pidge. Straightening his back, Shiro nodded to the sailors, who dispersed with a sound, “Aye, Captain!”

“Pidge,” he said in greeting. “What’s the report?”

Pidge took a deep breath. It was hard to stay impersonal while talking about injuries and casualties, especially when a casualty was someone close.

“Most injuries are minor with a broken bone at worst. Three men were wounded beyond my ability to save them. They will most likely have passed away by tomorrow evening.” Pidge swallowed. “As for casualties, from what I’ve gathered, nineteen men have fallen to the pirates, with seven still being on the ship. The other eleven were either slain on the pirates ship or have fallen and drowned in the ocean.”

Pidge fell silent while Shiro took it all in. After a moment, Shiro gestured for one of the men and told him to start the preparations for the funerals of the seven currently laid aside on the deck. It had to be done before the sun set.

“What about Lance?”

Pidge flinched. They had expected the question, but it still felt like a blow to the stomach. Looking up at Shiro, Pidge could see that he already knew the answer too.

“Okay,” Shiro sighed. “Thank you for the report. Keep me posted on the injured and inform me whenever something changes. You’re dismissed.”

Pidge waited for a second, but when Shiro turned around, they were certain that that was that and they quickly headed back down. Feeling like they should first check on the injured and dying, Pidge made a small detour to the infirmary, where they barked some orders at the men fit to help. They also held the hand of one of the sailors, who’s wounds had overcome him and he had just about managed to ask Pidge to be with them as he passed on.

Eventually done for the night after checking up on the other two mortally wounded, who had fallen asleep and had about a fifty percent chance of making it till morning, Pidge dared to return to their room. They had sent someone else to report the death to Shiro and the remaining injured men would be kept watch over by the other infirmary helps.

When they finally did reach their room, they found that Hunk was still seated on the bed. He blinked blearily, as if he’d taken a nap in the time Pidge had been gone, and wriggled around a bit until he sat upright again.

Pidge didn’t answer his mumbled, ‘You all right?” and instead headed straight for the small cupboard and taking out the bottle of spirits. Taking out the cork, they took a swig, joined Hunk on the bed and handed him the bottle.

Hunk paused a moment to observe Pidge for a moment, but realised that there was no more use of words at this point. Taking a large swig himself, he closed his eyes again and leant back against the wall. Pidge did the same, wriggling the bottle from his hands again.

No tales of greatness were retold, but Pidge remembered, and Hunk remembered, tears were shed, and that was all that was important in that moment.

*

Reaching port had never been as relieving as it had been this time. Men were running down the ramp, happy to have their feet on solid ground again for some time. However, they did have a lot of work to do, so they didn’t have much time to revel.

One sail had to be replaced completely, having suffered from strong winds on the way to port after already being torn up. A lot of wood had to be repaired or replaced. Ammunition and weapons had to be restocked. And Pidge had a shopping list for healing supplies.

Heading into town was not nearly as much fun as it used to be. Even Pidge had to admit that while Lance had always been noisy, he had a way of making it all a little bit less tedious.

Pidge had asked whether Hunk wanted to join them on their trip, but he had politely refused. He had check up on rations and depending on their abundance, he would have to go out with a couple of sailors to restock that as well. Plus, Pidge had the suspicion that Hunk needed some space and they could understand that.

Finding the apothecary was easy and Pidge headed to the counter immediately. As they rattled off the list to the healer, who was collecting things on the go, Pidge noticed the shiny objects in a fish bowl. They glimmered in the torchlight and, while they seemed to change hues in the flickering light, had one colour they seemed to default to.

“What are these?” Pidge asked, picking one out of the bowl and turning it over in their hands.

The healer returned to the counter and dropped all the items Pidge had asked for on it. Smiling, she reached inside the bowl and took out one herself.

“They’re mermaid scales, I tell you,” she said.

Pidge would have been sceptical normally, but considering recent experiences, they would gander a gamble.

“Really? Like, siren scales?” Pidge asked innocently.

The woman scoffed and dropped the blue scale back in the bowl. “No one can get a siren’s scale. They wouldn’t have healing properties anyway. They’re creatures of death and their scales would only cause evil,” she said bitterly. “Mermaid scales are not only beautiful, but can be used for a variety of healing potions. Much more effective than surgery.”

Pidge rolled their eyes, but didn’t oppose the comment. There were always people who believed in potions and magical properties, but Pidge rather stuck to the things that had proven over and over again to be successful in treatment. Then again, Pidge didn’t know too much of healing, but had done the necessary research after Shiro had changed their post, including observing various surgeries whenever the opportunity arose.

“How did you get them?” Pidge asked instead.

“They wash up on the beach sometimes.” The woman shrugged. “Not many people are interesting in scales, no matter how beautiful or useful they are.”

Pidge glanced at the price and immediately knew why people didn’t bother. One scale cost almost as much as all the gold they had on the ship.

“Err, yeah, well,” Pidge said, “Have you never met a merperson?”

“Mermaid,” corrected the woman. “And no. No man has ever seen them. There are legends that we used to coexist, but at this point, not many people believe they exist, or that only the sirens have survived of their kind.”

“Right.” Pidge put the scale back inside the bowl and paid for the items they actually needed for the ship. The woman was disappointed, but didn’t try to persuade Pidge to still buy one.

When Pidge finally left the store, bags filled with healing items, they had a need for the library. They hurried back to the ship and quickly stashed everything away in the infirmary. Doing some quick rounds on the injured of which two Pidge was considering leaving behind in the care of the healers of this town. They would discuss it with Shiro later.

Heading back into town, Pidge made a beeline for the library and asked for any books about merpeople and sirens. The librarian had given them a weird look, but had lead them to a corner in the library labelled _Mythical_ and told them to try and find something themselves.

Pidge didn’t wait for the librarian to leave and immediately started pulling books from the shelves that had the slightest possibility of containing information. Leafing through them, they could quickly determine which books could prove useful.

There was a table nearby on which Pidge dumped everything they needed and took a lantern from the wall. They sat down, placed the lantern close on the table, and opened the first book on the pile.  

It turned out that there really was very little information on either merpeople or sirens. Some books clumped them together, while other didn’t even mention merpeople as a whole.

The most interesting passage Pidge had read thus far had been from a diary of a man long since passed away. It had told about the man meeting the most gorgeous creatures on Earth, who his away below the waves. They had saved his life, brought him to land, and nursed him back to health. The man had also written about their warnings of sirens.

_‘Don’t listen to their songs. They might look ethereal from above the surface, but their hair and skin is slick with lies and deceit. When you find yourself ensnared by one, struggle. They can only take you down with your consent.’_

Pidge chalked it up to things to definitely remember. However, nothing was further said about the appearance of merpeople. Although, by now, Pidge was fairly certain the merman they had met had been genuine. From what they had gathered, merpeople tended to want to help people that would otherwise be lost to the sea and they had no ill intent.

“So then could you have saved Lance?” Pidge wondered. It would make sense for the merman to take Lance elsewhere to heal, especially because the merman had seemed anything but keen on being seen.

“Are you quite done yet?” asked the librarian.

Pidge almost fell backwards, just managing to catch the edge of the table. The librarian was glaring from across her half-moon glasses and tapping her foot impatiently.

“The sun is almost down and I would like to go home,” she continued, eyeing the table with distaste. “Please clean up and leave.”

Pidge mumbled an agreement and set to collecting the books. After setting them all back on the shelves and hurrying out the door, they quite regretted staying out for so long. The sun had set in the time it had taken to return everything to it’s original place and Shiro was not going to be happy with Pidge practically shirking duty instead of being present to help fix the ship, especially because Pidge had a knack for knowing just what the best way was to fix up holes most efficiently.

“Pidge,” Shiro said, arms crossed and definitely not happy as Pidge sheepishly came aboard. “I hope you have a good excuse as to where you’ve been all day. We could have really used your help here.”

“I…” Pidge started, but shook their head. There was no proper excuse. “No, I do not, Shiro. I’m sorry.”

Shiro frowned, but it softened a little at seeing Pidge’s expression. He sighed then and looked out over the crew still busy hauling equipment and supplies everywhere.

“I know it’s been a hard couple of days,” he said and placed a hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “Pirates, almost losing the ship, losing Lance… It’s okay to feel like you need time on your own, but please realise that we should live for the future.”

“Yes, Shiro,” Pidge muttered, almost wishing they could admit to Shiro about the merman, but not quite trusting the effect it could cause. “It won’t happen again.”

“All right,” Shiro smiled and squeezed their shoulder. He then turned to answer two sailors having trouble with something else.

Pidge returned to the infirmary, glad to see that nothing terrible had happened in their absence. They were caught on their way to their room by Hunk who pushed a bowl of soup in their hands and told them to take it easy.

Finally back in their room, Pidge placed the soup on their desk and sat down, suddenly feeling incredibly drained. While not having learnt much, they had learnt that there were merpeople close to the coast of this town, otherwise their scales wouldn’t be turning up on the beaches. They had also learnt that merpeople had some innate will to save people, so there was a chance that Lance was alive.

Lance could be alive and out somewhere on an island. With a merman. And no real way of communicating with them should he want to return home.

Pidge suddenly knew what they had to do besides fixing the ship.

They had to find a way to contact the merpeople off the coast of this town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yello!  
> I felt like there was some need for a chapter of the HMS Voltron crew and how they're dealing with the apparent death of their dear friend, but in the end it kind of evolved into having actual plot importance. Yay!  
> So yeah, tell me what you think and if you liked it. I always appreciate the comments!


	5. Keith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is worried for Lance's health and turns to a third party for help.

Keith was starting to become increasingly more worried with every passing day. Lance had a heavy fever which wasn’t breaking and Keith didn’t know what to do anymore. He wasn’t versed in healing magic (or any at all beside simple spells) and was quickly running out of options.

Lance groaned, mumbled something unintelligible and tried to roll over. Keith stopped him, afraid his patchwork bandages would be ruined and Lance would inadvertently kill himself.

He repositioned the seaweed on Lance’s head after soaking it in cold water. He didn’t even have to touch the man to feel the heat emanating from him. It was terrifying.

Keith let his fingers run down Lance’s cheek slowly, hating how Lance was now almost as pale as him. His freckles stood stark against his skin, his breathing slow and laboured.

The worst thing was that Keith didn’t have the slightest clue as to what was still okay for human boundaries. For all he knew, Lance could already have passed the threshold of the limits of the human body and was now simply suffering a slow death. It made Keith’s stomach churn.

He knew he had to get help. He knew who to ask also. It was just that he couldn’t guess how they would react. Their kind warned against interacting with humans yet here Keith was, nursing one back to health. He was throwing everything he had known his whole life in danger just because he was in love.

No, not just _just_. Love wasn’t simply degraded to a “just.” He might not understand emotions very well, but over the past few days, this one had been the clearest of them all. What else could he ascribe the constant urge to touch Lance, to hold him, to _kiss_ him to?

Keith tore his eyes away from Lance’s lips, feeling somewhat guilty for thinking of anything else beside Lance’s immediate health. He glanced at where he had bandaged his side.

The wound was deep, but clean. However, the salt of the seawater had irritated it, which had then lead to this situation. Keith’s hurried beaching hadn’t kept the wound any cleaner and he had spent the better part of his day carefully cleaning it as Lance cried out.

Lance moaned and Keith reached for him immediately, lightly brushing his hair. It was becoming greasy, like a siren’s. Keith suppressed a shudder and wondered whether he should wash it soon.

Lance continued to fuss, a frown etched into his forehead. Keith leaned over him and cupped his cheek.

“It’s okay, Lance. I’m here,” he said, long since abandoned any embarrassment for talking into seemingly empty air. “I’ll find Allura and she’ll make it better. I promise.” He hesitated, but then leaned down and placed a sweet kiss on Lance’s forehead.

Lance sighed when he pulled away, settling down once more.

Keith was worried about leaving him alone, but he really didn’t have a choice. He could place a sleeping spell on Lance to keep his movements restrained and place a couple of wards around the area to keep him safe and hidden. Allura shouldn’t be that far away, so it shouldn’t take long to be back again.

The rush of magic always put Keith on edge. While it was a normal practice for his people, he had never been good at it. Simple spells he could just about manage, but they still made him too aware of his surroundings, overloading his senses, and he would need a moment or two to recollect himself.

Lance’s breathing slowed and Keith observed him, traced his features to calm himself. It worked better than anything else. Once he felt better, he focused on the wards, which were always easier on him, and replaced Lance’s bandages just to be certain. Reluctantly, he moved over to the water, eyes lingering on Lance for as long as possible, before he slipped in and swam off toward the city.

***

Luckily Allura did not live too far away from Keith’s current position. He just had to get to the city and hope she was at the Magic College.

If she was home at the palace however, he would need to see if he could convince the guards he really was a childhood friend of the princess despite his nomadic appearance. Generally, it did not end well. The last time he had tried that, he had almost spent the night in a jail cell if Allura hadn’t happened to exit.

He swam quickly, his worry driving him, and soon enough the elegant towers that peaked in the centre of the city came into view. They gleamed in the gentle light filtering through the ocean waves. He paused for a tick to admire the beauty of it all with the city splaying out before him. Then, he continued on toward the large building on the outskirts.

The Healing Wing was as busy as ever with merpeople speeding through the hallways, often muttering spells and diagnoses to themselves. Keith more than once had to press himself against the wall to avoid collision.

Eventually, he reached Allura’s office and knocked on the door. He breathed a sigh of relief as her cool voice called for him to enter.

The office was as tidy as ever with not a slip of paper out of order. Books lined the wall, organized by topic and relevance. Equipment older than their parents was displayed in an old-fashioned glass case they had found aboard a sunken ship on one of their childhood excursions.

Allura sat at her desk, piles of paper surrounding her. She paused her scribbling as he entered and broke into a smile.

“Keith,” she said and swam around her desk. “It’s been a while.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. Sorry. I’ve been… busy.”

“Busy,” Allura echoed, amusement tinging her voice. She was one of the few people he could actually read, if only because he more or less grew up with her. “I recall you saying you had nothing to do the last time I saw you. I thought you said you were _bored_.”

Keith shrugged. It was true after all. He hadn’t had anything to do before, but now he had Lance. “Something came up.” He hesitated, and Allura immediately picked up on it, smile slipping away in favour of her full, undivided attention. “It’s kind of why I’m here actually.”

“Okay.” Allura nodded, encouraging him to go on with a gentle touch on his arm.

Keith watched her lightly curious gaze take in his own appearance. He must have bags under his eyes and his hair was gross. It caused worry to filter through Allura’s clear eyes. He took a deep breath and looked at where her fingers rested against his arm.

“Well, uh, I met someone…” A quick peek at her face saw her eyes lighting up, so he quickly continued before she could get too excited. “A human. And he got hurt, you see. Fell from his ship, almost drowned, so I—”

“Oh, Keith,” Allura sighed, squeezing his arm.

“Please, Allura.” He grabbed her hand, searching for her eyes as she looked back at her desk, biting the inside of her cheek. “He’s—he’s everything.”

She looked at him, torn. “But he’s a human. How did you even…”

“Accidental. Cliffs were involved.” Allura quirked a smile at that. Keith smiled too, thinking back to that day. When he spoke again, it was soft and careful, “I think I fell in love with him the moment our eyes met.”

“Oh, Keith,” Allura said again. “Of all the trouble you get yourself into on a normal basis, this must surely be the worst so far.”

“Yeah, probably.”

She watched him for a moment longer, but then she smiled, cupped his face and kissed his nose, the way they used to when they were little kids. Keith ducked from her grasp instantly, pulling a face as she laughed.

“Very well, then,” she said. “I’ll help you out. I suppose I do owe you after last year’s fiasco.”

Keith breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. And that was nothing. It was about time for you two anyway.”

Allura’s eyes shimmered as she thought of her girlfriend. “Yes.” She quickly blinked her sappy expression away however, and gestured for Keith. “Anyway, can you find some books for me in the library while I'll finish up here? I don’t have much expertise on humans, so I’d like to have some guidance.”

Keith nodded and she quickly scribbled him a list of books. On another she scribbled a small note. As she handed him the papers, she grabbed his arm once more. “Don’t make it obvious. They should be on the far side from the door. Don’t let anyone see what you’re getting, okay? This’ll get me in enough trouble as is. Just give the librarian the note and you're good to go.” She handed him a bag and gestured for him to be off, once more settling herself behind her desk.

“Right. Of course.” Just before he headed through the door, he stalled and glanced back at her. “Thanks again, Allura.”

She dismissed him with a wave. “That’s what friends are for.”

He ducked out of her room and followed the signs toward the library. People were starting to give him suspicious glances, especially when he ducked into the library. It wasn't surprising. While the College was open to all, Keith did not look like someone there to learn. His hunting knife and the scars littering his body proof for his life outside of the safety of the city.

He searched for the right isle and, after making sure no one was looking, he started pulling the books Allura had specified from the shelves. He had to stop halfway because they didn't fit right into the bag and had to rearrange them, but once he was finished, the strap dug into his shoulder. He did not look forward to swimming back (but he also really did because he was already missing Lance).

The librarian gave him a narrow-eyed stare when he handed her the note. She read it, looked back up at Keith and pursed her lips. Thankfully, she just gestured for him to be off, scrunching up the note with disdain.

Allura was waiting for him outside her office, holding a bag as well. She whispered it contained potions and whatever else she had thought to be helpful. They swam through the hallways, pretending they weren't breaking almost every rule their society had created for their safety. It wasn't until they almost reached the exit that Keith realized this fully.

“Princess.” A deep voice stopped them immediately and Allura almost dropped her bag. She twisted around and smiled, forced, Keith knew, but perhaps good enough for someone who didn't.

The man didn't seem impressed, his arms folded across his chest. He leaned forward slightly, eyebrow raised, and observed Keith. His eyes lingered on the knife at his waist.

“Yes?” she said and handed Keith her bag. He understood the message and dropped his gaze to the floor. He was to play a servant and she would handle the man. He squeezed the straps of the bag.

The man’s attention snapped to her and he straightened. He looked at her as if he expected her to know why he had stopped them. Allura didn't give any indication, just mild confusion with a dash of annoyance.

“Where are you going?” he asked. “I thought you wished to attend this afternoon’s lecture?”

“Oh. Right,” Allura said. Keith glanced up at her and saw her hesitation. Feeling guilty, he opened his mouth to tell her it was fine, but instead she gave him a look. “I'm sorry, but something came up. I'll attend the one next year.”

The man stared between them. The silence dragged on until Allura remembered she was a princess and threw her shoulders back. She gestured for Keith to move to the exit, giving the man a nod in parting.

It wasn't until they left the city Keith handed her back her bag. They paused, overseeing the city, and Allura took a moment to compose herself. She hated not telling the truth, even if she didn't have to outright lie.

When they returned to the entrance of Lance’s cave, Keith started removing his wards as they neared. He took a deep breath, hoping—begging—to whatever deities were listening that Lance was still breathing. He surfaced, zeroing in on the man immediately. There was the gentle rise and fall of his chest, and Keith immediately scrambled unto land. His fingers found Lance’s face without his entire knowledge.

He heard Allura drop her bag, but all he cared about was Lance. He only glanced up at her when she touched his shoulder, a small smile playing on her lips. Reluctantly, Keith moved back, settling against the wall, as Allura hovered over Lance.

“He _is_ cute,” she said slyly. Her finger moved to his ears as she took his temperature. “These are a little strange though.”

Keith shrugged. He liked Lance’s round ears. It was part of his charm.

Allura focused on the task at hand then, checking Lance’s vitals and flipping through pages of the books. Keith helped her unwrap the bandages around Lance’s torso, wincing at the nasty cut, but beside that he wasn’t very useful. Allura told him to settle down while she worked; he was distracting.

Still, Keith tried to pay attention to what Allura was doing, but his eyes strayed to Lance’s face almost immediately. He just hoped that it wasn’t too late. If Lance was to die… Keith didn’t think he could handle that.

He felt somewhat silly to be this attached to a human whom he had hardly spoken to, whom he had known for so little time, but he couldn’t help it. Lance had somehow become part of him and he feared to lose that part. He hadn’t even allowed room for the thought that Lance might not even feel the same about him. First, Lance had to survive his wounds, then they could work from there. Maybe. Hopefully.

“Keith,” Allura said softly, gaining his attention.

He moved back to Lance’s side and grabbed his hand for lack of something better to soothe his nerves. “And? Will he—will he be all right?”

Allura was still holding a book, biting her lip as she weighed the different options. “Well, I think we can help the healing of the wound along if we work together. The fever should then lower as well.”

“Wait. Work together?” After Allura’s nod, Keith swallowed heavily. “Allura, you _know_ —”

“It’s the only way, Keith,” she said and reached for his free hand, squeezing it lightly. “You’ll be fine. I just need you to channel your magic to mine. I’ll do the actual healing.”

Keith looked from her to Lance and knew he didn’t have a choice, so he nodded. He adjusted his grip on Allura’s hand and closed his eyes.

He heard Allura shift and a moment later she began muttering the incantation. Focusing his own magic, Keith breathed deeply. The room thrummed with magic, filled every space, seeping into he cracks in the walls. It was all-surrounding, and trapped Keith.

It took all his willpower to not pull away from it all. It took the feeling of Lance’s hand in his, the feeling of his love for him.

The incantation surged and for a moment Keith was alone, gone, away from the world. The next, he blinked his eyes open and stared at Allura, who slumped backward. He just barely managed to catch her arms, so she wouldn't hit her head against the floor.

Her eyes opened, but didn't focus immediately, so Keith, who was still riding the high of magic, indulged a little more. A spark, just enough to jolt her to consciousness. She breathed sharply and grasped Keith's arms as well. They sat still until they had both stopped shaking. They looked at each other, something to ground them, but Keith’s eyes snapped down at Lance when he uttered a small groan.

Allura’s attention was focused on the wound on Lance side, or where the wound used to be. A smattering of blue scales ran up Lance’s side. They would fall off in a couple of days when the wound was fully healed. She looked up at Keith and had to bite back a chuckle at his sappy expression. She never thought she would see the day that the Keith she grew up with, the boy who had trouble understanding underlying emotions and who could never attune to the rules of society, would look at someone with such an expression.

Lance uttered another groan and Keith leaned toward his face hopefully. Lance raised a hand before dropping it down to his stomach, reaching for where the wound used to be. Keith grabbed it just be sure.

Lance’s eyes opened slowly, blinking heavily against the light that streamed in through the ceiling. He stared up for a long, confused moment before his eyes travelled down and landed on Keith's face.

Lance frowned. “Keith?”

Keith's voice had conveniently vanished, so all he could do was nod and press a kiss to Lance’s knuckles.

Lance was still staring, looking as if he was trying to solve a particularly difficult puzzle. When he spoke again, it was soft and careful. “I don't understand. I thought I was supposed to be dead.”

Keith cleared his throat and shook his head. “No, you're not. I caught you, in the water. You're safe and alive.” _And here_.

Lance breathed out slowly, head rolling back against the moss Keith had formed into a pillow. “Okay. That’s good. That’s… very good.” His eyes were still on Keith. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

Keith hummed, pressing another kiss to Lance’s knuckles. Lance’s eyes dropped to his hand clasped in Keith’s. Keith for a moment thought Lance would tell him to let go, but instead Lance squeezed his hand almost experimentally and laughed.

“This is surreal,” Lance breathed. He was trying hard to keep his eyes open, drowsiness overtaking him.

“I promise this is real, Lance,” Keith whispered. “Go to sleep now, and rest easy.”

“I don’t want to,” Lance muttered.

“I’ll be here. I promise. Sleep, Lance.” Keith leaned forward and placed a kiss on Lance’s forehead.

Lance sighed in content, eyes drooping closed. He fell asleep immediately.

Keith watched him for a while longer, until he was snapped back to reality by Allura’s chuckles. He flushed a bright red, as red as his scales, and was tempted to drop Lance’s hand altogether, but decided that that wasn’t worth it.

“So cute,” Allura said, grinning. Her eyes were positively sparkling. Keith just scowled at her.

“As if you’re any better,” he muttered darkly before turning back to observing Lance.

Allura just laughed.

***

When Lance awoke later, he did so with a start. It was dark and quiet and panic seized his heart. This felt more like death, and he feared that whatever he had seen before had been nothing but an illusion conjured by his dying mind. A comfort from the oncoming nothing.

“Lance.” A mumble, next to his ear.

He turned his head and squinted into the dark. A face, all angles and sharp features. Keith.

A soft hand touched his face and he almost recoiled. Instead he leaned into the touch, the touch from his final moments.

“How?” he mumbled.

“I was there. I saw you fall in. I acted,” Keith said. He shuffled a little closer, their noses now almost touching.

Lance smiled. “You saved my life.”

“I couldn’t let you die.”

The words made Lance shiver. He moved a little closer, hands finding scales and what he hoped to be Keith’s waist. “Why not?”

Keith was silent, his hand resting against Lance’s cheek, thumb moving back and forth. Lance could finally make out his eyes. They still made his breath catch.

He inched closer, brushing their noses together. Keith’s eyes closed momentarily, his breathing shallow. When they opened again, they were all Lance’s could see, all Lance wanted to see. They were ocean water on a stormy spring morning, just before the wind started to howl. Swirling, treacherous, beautiful.

They were so close, and still Lance wanted closer, wanted to bridge the gap.

“Because,” Keith breathed and his eyes flicked down, “I love you.”

The wind picked up. The storm brewed. The ocean surged. And Lance plunged forward into the abyss wilfully.

As he brushed their lips together, tasting salt and Keith, he realized that almost dying may have been the best thing to have ever happened to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, happy one year since the last update? So, yeah, I’m really sorry about that, but I have the attention span of a goldfish and that’s very unfortunate for writing because it means that I’ll be working on approximately five works at the same time for different fandoms, so you can probably imagine how that’s working out. Anyway, I promise that this fic will be finished one way or another, and I’ve planned out the entire thing (hence the chapter counter), but it might take a while, especially with uni being the way it is.
> 
> Also, look, I know that Keith is kind of OOC, but I needed this closeness between the two. Just ascribe it to the fact that he was raised in the merpeople community, which is, as mentioned earlier, built on touch and silent communication.
> 
> Anyway, thank you all for the comments, they helped me stay motivated during the lulls in writing :D Please keep ‘em coming!


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